Electric starting, stopping, and detecting device



Dec. 23, 1924. 1,520,678

A. A. VORNDIEKE ELECTRIC STARTING, STOPPING, AND DETECTING DEVICE Filed Oct. 2. 1922 4 Shets-Sheet 1 H rr oamgv.

1 ,520,678 A. A. VORNDIEKE ELECTRIC s'mme, STOPPING, AND DETECTZENG DEVICE Filed Och 2, 3.922 4 Sheets-$19815 '2 Dec. 23, 1924.

Lamas A. A. VQRNDIEKE ELEGTRIC' STARTING, STOPPING, AND DETECTING- DEVICE 4; Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed 061;. 2, 2

I HTTQRNEY.

' 1 A. A. VORNDIEKE ELECTRIC STARTING, STOPPING, AND DETECTING DEVICE Patented Dec. 23, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTHONY A. VORNDIEKE, F CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TO THOMAS H. OBR-IEN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

ELECTRIC STARTING, STOPPING, AND DETECTING DEVICE.

Application filed October 2, 1922.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ANTHONY A. VORN- DIEKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Starting, Stopping, and Detecting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a cheap, simple and efiicient device for starting and stopping, that is making and breaking a circuit for starting and stopping motors, fans, lighting systems, and the like, and it may be applied to wireless radio systems and the like.

In carrying out my invention I provide a system of keys suitably mounted and con nected with means and mechanism and operating in connection therewith, so that the pressing of certain of these keys will move the parts, to form an electric circuit and operate any motor, dynamo, fan, electric system for lighting, wireless and radio apparatus. In the present instance one of the keys must be operated three times, another one time and a third one twice; these operations will form the circuit; many other keys are provided and any combination may be used to form the circuit, by operating any set of these keys, for example, one key may be operated four times and another twice and still another one time to form this circuit and setting the device in operation. No one but the operator who is familiar with the combination of keys can make the circuit and thus set the device in operation.

Another object and feature of the invention consists in the employment of means for breaking the circuit by an outsider, who, if he touch any of the keys and press same, will break the circuit and stop the further operation of the device, but in this way he will form a new circuit which will give an alarm, flash a light or give some other kind of notice that the machine has been or is being tampered with by an outsider or some one not knowing the combination.

In order that the regular operator may stop the device and break the circuit, one key is provided, which he knows about, which may be manipulated by him, which will break the circuit and not set in the Serial No. 591,794.

alarm as it will not form the auxiliary circuit for so doing.

If any outsider or one not knowing the combination operate and manipulate any of the keys outside of the one just referred E0 (which will not form the alarm or auxiliary circuit),.the regular circuit will be broken and the notice or alarm will follow imme diately; this alarm or notice may be at a near or at a distant point.

The keys and their supporting stems oper-, ate in connection with a series of plates extending across the bottom of the device and same plates are capable of being pushed downwardly to operate mechanism under the same and at their rear to operate in connection with revolving discs and knife switches and wires which lead to an electric current supply, to form the circuit and break same accordingly as the keys are operated in connection with said plates.

The device is one of great utility and its various features and advantages will readily become apparent from the following specification and claims, to which reference is hereby made.

Fig. 1, isa plan View, partly broken away to show construction,

Fig. 2, is a front view of the device,

Fig. 3, is a section on line 33 of Fig. 7,

Fig. l, is a section on line l4 of Fig.7,

Fig. 5, is a section on line 55 of Fig. 7,

Fig. 6, is a section on line 66 of Fig. 7,

Fig. 7, is a sectional plan taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 8, is a plan View of a plate used in connection with the means for forming a circuit,

Fig. 9, is a plan view of the other plate used in connection with the plate referred to in Fig. 8, and

Fig. 10, is a part section taken on line 1010 of Fig. 5.

In the drawings I show a box frame, formed of top 1, bottom 2, and the sides 3 and l. I use two key bars 5 and 6 and they may be of any form and supported in the box in any way.

I employ a multiplicity of keys as 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. I may use any number of keys and arrange them in any way. These keys have stems as 18, which stems all pass through the guide bars 5 and 6 and coiled springs as 19 encircle the said stems and extend from bar 5 to bar 6, a spring as being employed inconnection with the key 8, which does not encircle the stem used with said key, but is independent thereof.

7 normal position. The lowerplate 22 is un der plate 21; this lower plate 22 is mounted on a pair of arms 28, 28 see Fig. '5, which arms are pivotally mounted on an axle 29, andh-ave upwardly extending fingers '30.

On the shaft I mount a peculiarly shaped lever 31, this lever at the forward end, at point '32 connects and operates in connection with the key 10. At its rear end it ismonnted in'a fibre connecting piece 33,

which in turn carries the knifeswitch contact 3.4, a p n 35 which is mounted .1n lever 31 engages into a recess'36 of finger on the arms 28 a' in 37 en a es onto the spring 38, said spring beingfor the purpose of returning lever 31 to its normal position; this spring 38 also has a. forward extension 39, which engages onto the nose 40 of the arms 28, which is also for the purpose of returningsuid arms 28 to their normal position.

In thebracket 41, on the pin 42 I pivot ally mount a lever 43. This lever 43 works in connection with key stem 18 at the point 44, and at this point I fasten one end of. the spring 20, the upper end of whichbeingfastened to the guide bar 5. y At the rear end ofthe lever 43 on the pin 45, I pivotally mount a lever pawl 46, at the lower end of which I mount one end of a spring 47, the other end thereof being mounted at point'48, in the bracket 41. The lever pawl'46, at its upper extremity has the pawl nose 49, and the point 50, carries the pin 51. This pin is operated by and works in connection with a pawl 52 which is pivotally mounted on shaft 25 and is held into engagement with the ratchet 53 by the spring 54, also mounted on the shaft 25. This ratchet 53 is mounted on the main shaft 55. Thepawl. lever 46 engages into this ratchet 53 and operates same and the pawl 52 is for the purpose of holding said ratchet nto its last moved position.

Shaft 55 is mounted at oneend in the'bracket- 56 and at its other end is mounted in the end plate in side 4; On the said shaft 55, I mount a series of fibre discs as 57, of which'there are ten, in the present instance. On the top 1, on the underneath side of same, I provide the switch contacts 58, 58. ii

Built in between two of the fibre discs 57,

I place the switches contact points 59, which 7 wire 66. 'BetWeen th-e points 64 and 65 1 provide two contact springs 67 and SSfirmly connected at one point and .loose at the opposite point and capable of being pushed down to make a contact.

Underneath the plate 221 provide an aux il'iary plate 69 (see Fig. 9),which is connected to the forward end of arm 28 and is for the purpose of allowing the user to in dependently throwin the switch 84 which will be more fully described hereinafter.

In'o-rder tot-brow the operation of the device'back to normal, I provide coiled spring 70 which has one end fastened inbracket 71 and its opposite end into shaft 55, and securely mounted on the .shaft 55 I provide a stop arm 7 2, which when in its home or normal position, contacts with an adjusting screw 73. y

IVhen theswitches 34 and 34 are thrown into contact with their contact parts 58, 58, a circuit is formed, by reason of the knife switch contact points 70 entering the disc contacts 59, and switches 34 and 34 entering contact points 58, 58.

In order for the above circuit to be formed, the fibre discs 57 must be in a position to receive the switches 34 and34 with their contacting points 59 and as t-he'disks revolve with the shaft 44; this revolving being setin motion by the pressing of the keys, which will be hereinafter more fully described.

Under the above conditions the device nay operate afainmotor, a'system of lighting, or the like, which is preferablyconnected up for such operation, and maybe used in connection with wireless or radio systems. i

In orderto forth the operator must set the same, so that such a position can be assumed and this is done through the operation of keys 8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, under certain system and combination between the keys and parts in connection with which they operate.

I will. now give the key action and manipulation for the operation set forth in the drawings, that is one specific method of operating the device.

1st. ,It is necessary to push or press key 8,

this will press down. the lever 43, see Fig. 4, and this lever being fulcrumcd 1n bracket attain the position above set '7 41 on the pin 42, will push upward on the pawl lever 49, which engages into ratchet 53, and this ratchet being fastened on main shaft 55 revolves said shaft, pawl 52 holding the revolving shaft into position; by repeating this operation the required number of times, in this present instance being three times, the shaft 55 would be revolved three steps and turn the discs 57 until the contact parts 59, 59 are in a position that the parts 70 of knife switches 34 and 34 will pass into engaging relation with the said contacting points 59 in the said discs.

2nd. The next step is to push down the .key 10 one time, see Fig. 5, this presses downward one end of lever 31, it being fulcrumed on the shaft and causes the knife switch 34 to sweep upwardly and inwardly into engagement with contacting points 59, 59, in discs 57, and 58, 58, at the upper rear portion of the device; when said lever 31 is pushed down, a pin engages into the recess 36 of the lever 28, and this lever 28 being for the purpose of holding lever 31 down and the knife switch is in engagement as aforesaid.

3rd. I must now push down the key 16 and this brings the same result and condition as just described by the second step, except that the knife switch 34 is then brought into engagement with contact points 59 and 58, see Figs. 5 and 10.

Now all the electrical contacts and combinations have been made and set and any motor, lighting system, fan, alarm system or the like, can be put into operation and will continue in operation, until stopped by the operator. If an outsider or one not familiar with the operation of the device, pushes down any of the keys which have not been mentioned in the above operation except key 12, the circuit is broken at once by reason of plate 21 which extends entirely across under the keys and their connections, being pushed downwardly by reason of lever 28 being under the plate 21, presses same clownward and releases the pin 35 on lever 31 and the spring 38 carries the knife switch out of contact and back to normal position, thus breaking the circuit.

This operation also causes an auxiliary circuit between points 67 and 68 by reason of the arm 24 pressing downwardly on the contact point 68, which is a spring, until it touches and engages the spring contact point 67, which closes the independent circuit and sends in an alarm through wire 66 and 7 5 by ringing a bell, flashing a light or doing any other thing for notification purposes that the device or machine has been tampered with by some other person than the one in charge thereof.

In order that the operator may stop the device from operating and break the circuit without sending in an alarm, or the like, I

provide the middle key 12 of one of the rows of keys and arrange it so that it may be pressed by said operatorto stop the device, that is, break the circuit, without giving the alarm, this is done as follows :-In the upper plate 21, I provide an opening 80, see Fig. 7 which allows the stem 18 of said key 12 to pass thru and rest upon the lower plate 22, the pressure upon this key 12 will press down plate 22 independently of the keys or of said plate 21, thus breaking the circuit without giving an alarm or notice.

The keys must be worked in proper order, the keys 8, 10 and 16 are the operating keys of the present example given in this specification, and must be operated as numerically stated. In other words, supposing key 8 has been operated three times and key 16 once, if key 10 should now be pressed, key No. 16 if pressed will release by reason of the fact that the travel key 10 is greater and will consequently allow the connections made by key 16 in its function, to be released, breaking the circuit.

In the present instance, it is done as follows: If key 8 be operated three times and key 10 should not be operated next, (as it should in the operation) and key 16 is set, and the party fooling with the device should press key 10, then key 16 will be released, as pin 35 in lever 31, is in a lower posi tion, consequently less travel to make its entry in recess 36 of the lever 28 than the lever 28, then if key 10 is pressed, key 16 will consequently be released.

Any other means may be employed, or combination formed in connection with the keys for breaking the circuit by the operator without sending in an alarm, other than that herein described, and just set forth.

Any particular set of keys may be used in a combination to set the device in action, which will be known only to the operator, or those interested.

lVhile I have described one specific means and mechanism for carrying my invention into eflect, it will be readily understood that the same is capable of some change and modification without departing from the principle and spirit of the invention, and I wish to be understood as claiming that any such changes and modifications will fall within the scope of this specification and claims.

What I claim as new and. my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A device of the kind described including a plurality of true keys and a plurality of false keys, a movable member provided with contacts, a step-by-step mechanism controlled by one of said true keys, for actuating said member, an element for holding the movable member in the position to which it has been moved by the step-by-step "one of the contacts of the movable member,

a second switch'element actuated by another one of the true keys and provided Vltll'it 7 contact adapted to be brought into engagement With anotherone of the contacts of the 7 movable member, stationary contacts en gageable With said switch elements, latches for holding the switch elements in aposition to engage the stationary contacts, and means actuated by certain of said false keys for releasing said latches.

. 2. A device as claimed in claim 1 including means actuated by another one of said false keys for releasing the element which holds the movable member in the position to which it has been moved by the step-bystep mechanism.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the'movable member consists of a rotatable shaft provided with a number of disks, the contacts of the movable member being arrangedbetween certain of saidvdisks.

4;. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the movable member is mounted on an oscil: lating shaft, andmeans forreturning said shaft to a normal position.

5. -A device as'claimed in claim 1 in which the movable member is mounted on an oscilcrank lever having a surface to engage lating shaft, a spring for returning said shaft to a. normal. position, and stops for limiting the movement of the shaft under the influence of said spring.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1 in Which each of said switch elements includes a rocking lever contactingat one end with one of the true keys and provided at its opposite end With an insulated arm carrying a switch knife. I y

7. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which each of said latches includes a pin mounted on one of the switch elements, and a bell hold said pin. v

8. A device as claimed in claim 1 inwhich the step-by-step mechanism includes a ratchet member fixed relatively to the movable member, a rocking lever, and a pawl con nected to the rocking lever and engaging the ratchetme'mber.

9. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 26 dayof Septem ber, 1922.

ANTHONY VA. VORNDIEKE."

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